Limited Vision

The valley view from the mountaintop is far different from the view while you’re still in the valley. From the mountaintop, you can see the forest and streams, birds, green valleys, deserts, all in a sweeping survey of the land. You see all the possibilities that the valley offers. From the valley you only see what is before you. From the valley you also see the height of the mountains and the freedom it seems to offer from the problems of the valley.  How you long for the mountaintop. Is that assumption real?

What is God’s view of the valley from His position? He is surely on the mountaintop. I believe He sees possibilities not problems. I believe He sees the fertility provided by the waters and springs that run down from the mountain; These streams gathering minerals, and being cleaned of impurities as they rush across the rocks.  When the waters finally reach the valley, they are fresh and pure for the use of the valley inhabitants. The nutrients brought from the mountain fertilize every parcel of land it flows through that is below it and comes to rest in the ponds, rivers, lakes and streams and rivers on the the valley floor. Is the valley a place of restoration and healing or a place of pain and destruction?

While in the valley, I have access to fertile, productive possibilities as well as the problems of the desert. When I say desert I mean dry, unfertile places. While suffering the pain, I have access to healing and restoration. The One that sits on high sends down everything that I need to lead a peaceful, enriched, safe life in His living waters. If only I could keep His view of the valley and not mine. In His Natural all things are supplied for me. I just can’t see them. My view is limited. I only see what is before me and what my limited experience dictates. I can’t see all the possibilities that He sees. 

How then do I see as He sees? I let Him see and then tell me.  That requires a keener ear and unlimited, unbounded trust in Him, i.e. A much tighter relationship than I have now.  If I am able to move me out of the way then I can see with mountaintop vision while standing in the valley.  I can know the paths that lead to green pastures and calm, restoring waters as I walk through the deserts.

Excerpt from my book that’s in progress.

Deeper Perspective

Last week I completed a study on covenant and its relationship with God and mankind. Every culture has some form of covenant ritual and it is considered sacred, serious, eternally binding. Many included a shedding of blood. An example, cutting the wrist of the parties and mingling the blood. Two have become one.  God used the customs of Abraham’s culture to initiate a covenant with him.  The ratification of this covenant required animals to be cut in half and God to pass between them and consume them with fire. On man’s side it required the cutting of his foreskin. The new covenant with Yeshua required the cutting of his skin. On our side it requires a cutting away the foreskins on our hearts. But that entails not a literal cutting of our hearts but a submission to the will of God. It can be stated like this “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

What does it mean to take up your cross? I’ve heard many teachings on what Yeshua meant. I found nothing wrong with them. In fact, most made sense and were true. But this last week I saw something that shook my inner soul. To enter covenant with Yeshua I must become one with Him. I must take up my cross. What is the purpose of the cross? Crucifixion. Death. When I take up my cross I have accepted destination death. Death to self, death to my will, death to my life including physical death. So when you, I, picked up that cross we recieved and agreed to our death sentence.

We teach and preach about that abundant life and the promises of prosperity but that comes with the cost of our death. Don’t say Yeshua wouldn’t allow us to die because so many around the world have died already just because they took up that cross.

Overlapping Storms Marco and Laura

Sitting here thinking about the phenomenon of Laura and Marco’s hitting our area at the same time. I have a kind of excitement that I don’t really understand.  Could they be an answer to prayer? I don’t know any science to support what I’m about to say but could these storms be cleansing agents to the Corona virus here in Texas? Could these storms force us to stay in for a short period of time to cleanse the air, the land, our stubborn self-centered minds.? Call me crazy but I am excited about the healing prospects.

Who Forgot?

Did we forget or did they? The USA and its territories comprise a democratic republic. So what does that mean? Dictionary.com defines

Democracy – a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Republic – a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. Or simply stated so kids can understand:

A republic is a form of government in which the people elect, or choose, their leaders. … They also elect other people, called representatives, to make laws. The leaders of a republic are responsible to the people who elected them.
republic – Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help

So we, the entire population, as a democratic republic hold supreme power in this government and we elect representatives to make laws that will benefit our entire populations. I don’t know if this has ever happened as designed but it is time to take the reigns and do something about it. In other words, the representatives work for us. If we hold the supreme power then this mess is our fault. We allowed these representatives and senators to remain in Congress long enough to acquire the kind of power they have and the thinking that we work for them. We should establish for their salaries, vacation times, health benefits, and everything else that employers do for employees. It occurred to me that the fear is not who we elect as president as much as it is who we send to Congress. Who’s up for re-election? It is clear that many don’t care not one little bit about the people they represent. They do’t talk about their constituents concerns. They talk more about the power they wield and how they are going to beat their opponent.

Let’s get it together and become better employers. Let’s give the senators and representatives an evaluation and vote them out if they don’t do well just like you would on any other job. It is not about personality. I might like you but if you have only spread derision and obstruction and very little to better the living conditions of the people who employ you then you have to go.

All the seats that are up for grabs this election should be carefully looked at and decisions should be made has to whether they should continue to represent you. Then we should require whomever wins to actually represent us. We have given away our power. We have been convinced that governing is too complicated for us to understand. No, it’s not. We may not know all the intricate details they are given but we can be informed by those representatives. During an election year, millions of trees die and my inbox is inundated with mail from people I don’t know to beg for my vote. Why can’t we be sent information through those same channels. The politicians don’t care if the person receiving their pamphlet or email is going to vote but they send it anyway. So it does’t matter if you think a person won’t read it, send it anyway. You might be surprised. Or is that what you fear? We might require you to do your jobs representing us rather than your own interest or the lobbyists?

Economically Foolish!

It’s been a few days since I posted about Jim Crow. A thought crossed my mind that deserved more attention. I am black and grew up in the south under that system and at the height of it’s destruction, some what. I had never given thought to how it affected any other group that was not white. Did they experience the same things I did? Did New Mexico and Arizona have Mexican only water faucets and bathrooms? Were there separate waiting rooms for them at the bus station or doctor’s office? Did they ride in the back of the bus? How were the Native Americans fare? Or the Asians?

Originally, I was looking at the economic impact this system had on the country. south in particular. It cost so much more to operate your business if you had to have double everything. Does that make sense? It is one more example of the stupidity hatred creates. Think about this. For many of those business owners it was a black woman caring for their child or cooking their food. She was in their homes all day. They weren’t afraid of contamination there. They weren’t afraid of her blackness rubbing off on them when she cleaned their toilets and washed clothes? Then why couldn’t she sit next to them at a lunch counter or in a theater or a doctor’s office. They would have saved so much money.

Just a thought.

Who Is Jim Crow?

Most of my young life I lived under the Jim Crow laws. But who exactly is Jim Crow? All this time I assumed he was someone politically influential during the Civil War or the Reconstruction. I finally looked him up only to discover he is a character in a minstrel show. An actor named Rice created a black-faced character for his show. It is said he was not the only but he was the most successful.  His character satisfied his audiences fascination with Black life, culture. It also provided the opportunity to create and perpetuate negative stereotypes. No one knows how this character became associated with the laws.

If we are not careful we might just allow another or other actors create and perpetuate negative stereotypes.  It has already led to increased public deaths: the new lynchings. Don’t let them take the vote. Even if you think nothing will change for us vote anyway. Don’t give your voice, your power away.

Great-grandmother: Strong Woman

I’ve been told that this woman was very mean but it is not something I experienced in my young life. She and my great grandfather  lived in what we called the country. When I went to visit them I was in her direct care. With him rules were more likely to be relaxed 😊.

So many memories include her kitchen and her front porch. My great-grandmother was an awesome cook. She raised the chickens and eggs we ate. She churned the butter from a neighbor’s milk. The jams, jellies and vegetables she made and canned in the summer fed us all winter. The fruit and vegetables came from their very large garden. I remember climbing the pear and apple trees to gather the fruit. I was in heaven. The next closest to heaven feelings were her feather mattresses and pillows she made from the chicken feathers. Unfortunately I never desired to learn these skills. I wish I had. She also taught me how to feed the chickens, clean the yard and empty what they called the  slop jar. Jobs I hated. It was not pig slop as you might imagine. It was human waste from the night 😖. It was a while before they got indoor plumbing. Going to the outhouse at night was not wise. Visits from snakes and such. Back to the yard. I had to sweep the dirt to clean up chicken poop and to minimize the dust blown into the house.  Can you get ready for that?😀. She was an immaculate homemaker and that included the yard.

The women on the hill were early risers so after lunch the porch sitting began. The women nearest my great-grandmother’s house gathered on her porch. It was large and you could see almost every other home from her vantage point. All the latest news and gossip was shared until it was time to prepare dinner.

This woman was strong. I didn’t realize how strong. When she died I discovered she was born just as slavery ended. I can’t remember if she was the last baby born under slavery or the first born after it ended. Nevertheless,  she grew up under Jim Crow laws. She never got to vote. She had to play the role of societal submissive for survival sake. This strong woman was humiliated so her family could live. She never talked about her childhood or even my grandmother’s. I guess that was just how they were. To move forward they let go the pain of the past and dealt with the conditions or realities of the present.

I miss the innocence that I was allowed to experience during visits to a rural place during unsafe times because of her.

Thank you to her and others like her.

I’m What?

I have been called many things in my life and told who and what I was suppose to be but these last few months have been quite interesting. I was told I wasn’t a Christian. I was told I was a communist liberal. I was a fraud. All of this because I didn’t agree with some things some other Christians believed or said. So you know I couldn’t just let that sit there. What exactly did these words mean? I know how they are portrayed but what do they mean?

Liberal – 1.open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.

2. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.(often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.

Conservative – disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

Progressive – favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters:

Communism – a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

So from the Merriam Webster Dictionary and Dictionary.com,

I am open to new behavior or opinions and willing to get rid of traditional values to reform or progress society rather than leaving conditions and limiting change as they traditionally are and I want to hold all property in common for the community.

Liberal, Progressive, Communist. Based on the definition that sounds like a description of Yeshua aka Jesus and the Apostles. Yeshua shook up the Pharisees (Conservatives) world. They taught the Mosaic law but did not live the spirit of the law. They even created new law restrictions that they say were extensions of the original. These were very pious men who exacted judgement on the people with little to no compassion or intent to help them change. They were more concerned with appearances than the truly living the Law. They would swallow a camel and strain at a gnat. Check out Matthew 23 to see just what Yeshua said about their hypocrisy. Yeshua even told his followers not to pray like them. There were so many things they did that violated the very law they sought to preserve. Here’s an example. Just one example. The woman caught in adultery. The Law said both the woman and the man were to be stoned but they only brought the woman. They asked Yeshua what to do. He said very matter-of-fact, let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Now if they had done nothing else they had sinned by not bringing the man. He did not violate or change the law but he did open up some new behavior pathways. Stone her but be sure you are guiltless. You want another one. Okay. All that dining with the sinners like Matthew and Zaccheaus. How about hanging out with the prostitute Mary Magdeline. And that unclean woman that touched him, how dare he let her do that and not stone her? Oh and how about turning over the money changers tables in the temple? Now that was a non–conservative act if every they saw one. You don’t mess with temple, church, money.

His 3 year minitry was one of reform and making progress toward that reform. He gave us instructions that were all based on Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor. That LOVE would reform and change the traditional behavior. If the Pharisees had taught that then Love would have been the traditional behavior. What we have now is “if your like me love”. If you meet my criteria love. If you are gay, I can’t show you love. If you are black, brown, white, immigrant, poor, rich, skinny, fat, whatever the reason not like me, I can’t show you love. Yeshua sought reformation on that thinking then and we need to reform our thinking now. Loving does not mean I agree with the person. Loving means I will care for you, I will share the Biblical truth with you and accept your decision. I will respect you and seek understanding of your perspective. I will offer you a safe space free from judgement. In that space I will show you His love; I will live my Biblical truth toward you. I will leave the judgement or condemnation to God. After all, according to Paul’s letter to the Corithians, that’s God’s job not mine. According to Yeshua’s commands we must love. Genuinely love. In fact the sum of His command was Go, teach and love. Oh, but first you had to live it. This was His progressive, liberal stance.

Now to that communism part. Yeshua took a little boy’s lunch and fed 5000 men. That count did not include the women and children that were fed. All things common so know one lacked anything. When the first century church sold all their possessions and brought them to the Apostles so that everyone’s needs were met, wasn’t that communism according to the definition? Hmm.

Now I know the purest form of these definitions have been perverted, but what if they weren’t? What if we were liberal enough to be open to progressive acts that would change our behavior to be more aligned with the Word of God. He said Love. Love would change this country. These religious mandates and judgments have only resulted in fear, anger and hatred. Yeshua showed Mary Magdaline love and forgiveness and she changed. He sat down in Matthew’s home and spoke truth with respect and love, and he changed. The same with Zacchaeus. He did not offer this selectively. Your sin is greater so I won’t deal with you. That’s not God’s love. The Law stayed unchanged but the improvement and reformation of peoples lives were changed forever. If we who say we follow Yeshua would be that kind of liberal, what we see being played out would not be necessary. So you conservatives who want everything to stay the same, your tradition stay that way if you like but I invite you to the freedom in being the kind of liberal Yeshua was. It is life reforming.

Yeshua was the most famous liberal, progressive, communist that ever walked this earth. So to you who thought you were insulting me, it was really the best compliment you could give me. Thank you. This is company I like being in.